US and Nato Response to Russian Aggression

Summary

Aside from Mearsheimer, the texts assigned for today’s class, while colorfully written and full of charismatic language, generally ignore US & NATO’s role in creating the fruitful environment, and often the outright provocation, for Russian aggression to not only flourish but to be justifiable to some.

Additionally, taking the assigned readings into account, Russian Aggression is not something that was created in the periphery of the current conflict. Russia and Ukraine, both, had been anticipating the outbreak of this conflict since before 2010. [Note: American Marines have been training with Ukrainian troops as far back as 2008, preparing them for eventual conflict with Russia. I know this because I have a retired Marine Sargent in my family, who did two tours in Afghanistan, prior to which he assisted in training Ukrainian Special Forces for war with Russia].

Shortly thereafter, the Euromaidan protests took place. To say that the Euromaidan protests were not backed by NATO would be a complete distortion of the truth. Without summarizing the entirety of the Euromaidan unrest, it was the Pro-Russian backed government of Yanukovich fighting for power against the people of Ukraine, who supported a non-Russian backed president. As it turned out, Yanukovich fled the country on a helicopter, (full of American cash, at 4am their time), while the public, along with western intelligence/political actors, assisted in the overthrow of the Ukrainian government. What followed-up was complete chaos. It was noted that American diplomats, i.e. Victoria Nuland, were on the ground in Kiev during the time of the Euromaidan protests handing out food, materials, and supplies to rebels.

Subsequently Putin had his “referendum”, and some Ukrainians elected to “split from Ukraine and become a part of Russia”. After that, the Minsk accords began, as a means to achieve peace without further bloodshed. Somewhere along this route a charismatic comedian came into the political arena, under the auspices of fixing government corruption and finding a peaceful way forward with their Eastern neighbor. What we are currently seeing is the consternation of heated war but the lack of acknowledgement as to what caused it.

When Zelenskiy entered the political arena, he ran on the following platform:
a) End government corruption.
b) No war with Russia/Russian separatists.
Both of Zelenskiy’s campaign promises have not been kept. Think of the above bullet points as Zelenskiy’s “maga” hashtag. Zelenskiy entered the political arena with seemingly honest ambitions and then, in my opinion, was strongarmed into war with Russia by the extremist wing of his own government, in addition to funding and armament from his Western allies. Indeed, it should also be noted that, according to financial disclosure statements, that American corporations have already purchased and acquired many acres of land in the Ukraine along the Black Sea, and surrounding areas due to its fertility and agricultural value.

To place all the blame on Putin is silly and dishonest. To be frank, we, (the US), have a lot of interests in that region and we have been playing the game of espionage, with the utmost tenacity and vigor long before this “special military operation” ever began.

Much the same way the US instigated the Vietnamese “attack” on our ship as a means to a justifiable invasion, in addition to the US election tampering in Noriega’s Panama, we too have been playing the political game of chicken with Russia over Ukraine since the fall of the USSR—only now the collision point is upon us.

I just hope that NATO and the West have enough wisdom to avoid dragging the entire world into WWIII.